Monday, June 30, 2014

This week was great!! I think I say that about all my weeks, but its because they all are pretty darn great :)

I don't know if you all remember a while back when I sent home pictures and stories about a Danish holiday where the tradition used to be that they would put a black cat in a barrel and then beat it until the barrel broke? (Nowadays they just put candy in the barrels, don't worry) Well, this week was the second half of that holiday, where we burn a witch, the cats owner!! It's called Sankt Hans and it was on the summer solstice. The tradition is to burn a witch in order to get rid of all of the evil that comes with the solstice when demons and things can run free. So here was our witch:

​Pretty, eh? And here is the fire :) She didn't last too long...

​We had a big ward party at the Kristiansens and they definitely went all out with the witch burning. This fire got pretty darn big! It was way fun :) It's always fun to be a part of these danish traditions and holidays. I liked this one a lot :) Who couldn't like it when there is fire involved? We roasted marshmellows too :) So that was definitely a fun night.

Look who I found this week!!

​Sister Wright! In Denmark! Haha we finally met up! The Sisters here in Slagelse had a baptism this weekend and Sister Wright's companion had been one of the missionaries that taught her so they came back for the baptism, so we finally got to catch up and say HI to each other here in Denmark! Pretty funny.

The work is going great here! We have been seeing a ton of great things come from our work with less actives. A couple of the people that we have been working with are regularly coming to church now and getting callings and we are so happy for them! And we had a way great week finding people so hopefully I will have some good stories soon about some Investigators. Also, Æ. Hansen will be going home here in 2 weeks so we have been using that to get appointments with all the different people that we have worked with. So it should be a pretty fun and busy week.

Haha one more Danish tradition :) It was also graduation this week. I guess in Denmark what you do after you graduate is you go and hop in the back of a big truck like this:

and drive around town shouting and singing, blazing music, and honking horns :) It was funny to see and looked like a pretty fun tradition. I guess they drive these trucks to everyone's houses and at each house they get some treats and celebrate a little and then drive to the next house and just do it all day long! While driving to all the different houses they are in the backs of these trucks singing and dancing haha :) So these were all over town this weekend. It was pretty funny.

I hope everything is going great back home and that summer is living up to its hype! Have a great 4th of July and celebrate America proudly :) We will be doing our part here in Denmark don't worry. Got all the flags and American songs at the ready :) It is a great country, can't beat it! I love you and miss you all!! Don't miss 'em.

Monday, June 23, 2014

​They are so great. It was a way fun day. They picked us up in the morning and we drove to the temple. We got there a little earlier so we got to walk around and talk for a bit before going in. And it was great once we went in! They did baptisms and confirmations and had a really good time :) They have great testimonies and it was way fun to be in the temple with them. And they are looking forward to going back later in the year when they can get sealed :) They are going to go back to Salt Lake and be sealed in the temple there. So that was also great to see that they still have their sights set on that and are looking forward to it :) and man they are so much fun :) We went to the Taco shop after (I miss mexican food!) and then when we got back in the car they were like 'we are taking you somewhere!' haha and didn't tell us where. So we just sat there and enjoyed the ride wondering where we were going. But they took us to a way sweet place! At the airport haha! (probably to taunt Æ. Hansen a little bit :)) It was a way sweet little ice cream shop right on the runway where you could sit and eat ice cream and watch planes take off. So that was super fun. It was just a great day!

We knocked into a high guy yesterday too :) Here he is drawing a picture for Æ. Hansen

Haha when we told he we couldn't stay and talk he was like 'oh thats ok! i'll just walk with you!' and he walked us to his car. Showed us his nice big belly tattoo and his basketball skills. It was super funny. Had some good chats walking to the car and he did give us his number so we can try and get ahold of him hopefully when he is not so high ha :) But it was a little sad when we got to the car and had to explain to him that we can't give rides to people in our mission car, so he would have to walk back alone. He was a little sad about that. But that was our funny story for the week :)

Haha we have been repping these little US flags all week in honor of the U.S. in the world cup :)

​I have never been a huge soccer fan, but it is pretty fun being over here in Europe for a world cup. The U.S. gets brought up alot more lately and people talk trash on our team, which we definitely wont have, so we have been making sure that the U.S. is getting its support over here in Denmark! Hopefully it pays off :) It would be way fun to see them move on! And definitely blow all the people over here away. So go USA!!

Things are going good here! I still having a way good time. We had a good week, were able to find some people and had a guy that we had only met with very briefly at a door come to church! He is this old architect named Peter and he talks SUPER quiet. But he is way nice and we are hoping to get something going with him. Our meetings have been going really good with less actives lately and we had 3 of them come to church yesterday as well! So all around things are going really good here :) And it should be a fun week ahead of us too. Today is Sankt Hans, the witch burning holiday, so we'll be burning a witch tonight!! I'll make sure to take pics.

Well, hope you all have a great week! Keep enjoying the summer! even if it snows (for those of you in Utah) haha :) I love you and miss you all!

Monday, June 16, 2014

So, I don't really have a lot to write this week, but I thought I would at least check in and send a couple pictures or something :)

It is still way pretty here. If I don't say that enough haha...

​But it makes it way fun to be outside and working. Just adds that extra little energy boost :)

It was a way good week. We had an investigator, Rasmus, in church! Hahaha --just not ours, he went to a different ward in Roskilde. But at least he still went! He is kinda funny. We think that he did that because he is trying to play mind games with us. He doesn't want to let us win, but he wants to come to church, so he just went to the Roskilde ward haha. But it sounds like he had a good time there and we have an appointment set up with him for this week so we'll see how it goes!

Here's a pic for you

​When a Dane turns 30 and they aren't married yet they have a funny tradition. Their friends make things out of oil drums and then leave it on their porch :) This was the best one I have ever seen! Usually it is just a tower of oil drums, but this one was a car! Way legit. So I took a pic. There is a little bit of Danish culture for you haha :) Super funny I love them :)

But anyways, hope you all had a great Father's Day and a great week! And I hope it continues. I love you and miss you all!!

Monday, June 2, 2014

So is anyone else kinda confused that it is June? Because I sure am. But hey, it's going to be a great month!

So, guess who I got to teach this week! Familien Hansen!!! It was great! We went back to Tåstrup on splits with my old companion Æ. Read and I made sure that we made an appointment with them :) They are doing so good! It was fun to see them again! And it was such a fun lesson. We caught up on how they were doing, and it sounds like things are going great! They have been to church the last 3 weeks in a row and are loving all that they are getting. They are really starting to understand it and take it in. They have come a way long way and are SO close to being baptized. It's all been layed out on the table and they know they need to do it, they just need to make that jump, get married, and get in the font! They talk about it pretty openly. saying things like "so when I get baptized..." or "when I'm a member.." It's a good sign when you hear things like that! So I was pretty straight forward with them and joked around with them about how they will be great members haha :) Because they will be! And they will be soon. I tried to commit them to a new date, but they were a little hesitant so instead I comitted them to think it over and come to the next lesson with a date that they can work towards. Which they agreed to :) So that will be great to hear when that is and hopefully it's soon so I can go to it while I'm still close to Tåstrup! Ha- I joked about that too. I love teaching that family. It was so much fun to be back and teaching them. They really are moving forward and it is great to see! So there is the Familien Hansen update. All is going great with them!

Look who we ran into on the streets!

Hahaha we saw these two walking down the sidewalk so we stopped them and said Hi. They are Jehova's Witness missionaries :) We had a funny conversation with them, about what it was like to be a missionary in Denmark and how people receive their message and stuff like that. It was pretty funny. I think they were a little confused when we contacted them... they were chill and fun to talk to but you could tell in the back of their heads they were like "what the heck?!" Ha! and wondering why we were contacting them. But we had a good time and got a pic :) Them with the watchtower and us with the Book of Mormon! We thought it was kinda funny.

Things are going well in the area. This upcoming week will be sweet! Familien Kristiansen got their temple recommends yesterday and we will be taking them to the temple on Saturday! So that will be super exciting and I'm really looking forward to that :) So all is going well! We found a Carl's Jr. here in one of the malls and having been hitting that up every time we are in the area, I don't know if life can get too much better. That is some good stuff!

Well, Hope all is going great with everyone!! Enjoy the last week of school! Or summer if you are already out! exciting stuff. And have a Great Father's Day all you Dads! I love you and miss you all!